Critic Reviews
Good
Based on 7 reviews on
Finalist for the Ferro-Grumley Award
A New York Times Writer to Watch This Summer
Named a Best Book of the Year by Literary Hub and Library JournalNamed a Lit 16 Debut Book
"Beguiling . . . A nervy, episodic read . . . Khalid is such a gifted commentator that his methods bear close examination . . . [His] sentences abound with florid, poetic metaphors while maintaining the clipped, declarative tempo of Scripture . . . Brother Alive is Rushdie with none of the ceremony, a searing collage of the profound and the mundane."--Pete Tosiello, New York Times Book Review"This debut is essential reading for anyone who loves great writing. Zain Khalid is a supremely talented writer and his skills with words dazzle on every page of this book . . . A novel about family, belonging, sexuality, and the insidious influence of capitalism on daily life, Brother Alive reminded me just how powerful a great novel can be. As I finished it I found myself looking at the world in a more expansive way, and that's something I'm immensely grateful for."--David Vogel, BuzzFeed"A stunningly ambitious and complex debut . . . Most profound is Khalid's deep exploration of grief . . . An engrossing read, a propulsive narrative with lyrical prose that will stay with you long after the last page."--Sadiya Ansari, Toronto Star"Brother Alive feels like the first work of fiction since the beginning of the pandemic that reflects the mood of the city . . . This book, so focused on the past, sometimes seems to have little optimism for the future. But some of Khalid's best writing comes when he has Youssef wax eloquent about whatever's on the horizon. Even though Brother Alive is far from hopeful, wrestling with intellectual and political energies that seem to have no appropriate outlet, Youssef, and his author, maintain a sense of delirious wonder throughout. It's a very New York quality: Every so often, the cynicism falls away and the sentiment--the affection that keeps us in this worn-out city--shines through."--Jonah Bromwich, Atlantic"Takes the reader from Staten Island to Saudi Arabia on a journey into a unique madness . . . Khalid's writing is lyrical, with the precise vocabulary of a poetry and a surveyor's eye for details, yet Brother Alive never gets lost in its erudition--the prose is delightful and clear . . . Ultimately a work of profound sadness as much as political savvy, Brother Alive is a stunning debut."--Brian Watson, Rain Taxi"A smooth interleaving of science-fiction with high-resolution realism and hallucinatory phantasmagoria . . . One of those books that appear only seldomly and bellow, from the first page, from the first line, that they require, beyond the valence-judgements expected of a review, earnest, laborious exploration."--Jonah Howell, Cleveland Review of Books"One the most exciting debuts in recent years . . . Khalid's vision can be bleak, even cynical, but it's also remarkably cogent and underscored with a profound tenderness. It's a love story--many times over, actually--wrapped inside a searing indictment, a rage against the many machines that would sacrifice people at the altar of capital. That Khalid executes a novel this intricate, elegant, and compassionate with such masterly prose all but guarantees that this will be one of the finest works of literature this year. Blisteringly intelligent, bursting with profound feeling, and host to some of the most complex, necessary characters in recent memory."--Luke Gorham, Library Journal (starred review)"In this auspicious debut, Khalid unfurls a beguiling story involving a Staten Island imam's secrets . . . Khalid brilliantly reveals new shades of truth from each character's point of view, and perfectly integrates the many ideas about capitalism and religious extremism into an enthralling narrative. It's a tour de force."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)"Brother Alive is a rigorously intelligent, wholly sensitive, and quietly rebellious work of art, with prose as profound as it is beautiful. What an inspiring examination of the waywardness of life and the grounding of love this story is. What a wise, thoughtful writer Zain Khalid is. What a gift to humanity this book is."--Robert Jones, Jr., New York Times-bestselling author of The Prophets
"This genre-defying novel, and the intelligence, originality, and awareness of the mind that produced it, astonished me. I was reminded of Günter Grass, of Viet Thanh Nguyen. Through the consciousness of an unforgettable narrator, Youssef, Khalid begins by subtly illuminating the contours of a globalized world in which the personal is geopolitical; he ends by turning up the light and refusing to let us look away."--Vauhini Vara, author of The Immortal King Rao
"Brother Alive is a remarkable work. Zain Khalid creates an immersive world rich in compelling detail. But even more impressively, Khalid achieves a kind of resistance text against our endemic inhumanity. The thrill lies in witnessing such a cogent and powerful intellect tune in to the music of life. An inspiring reminder of the great capacity of novels."--Sergio de la Pava, author of A Naked Singularity